Can We Use Google Glass to Withdraw Cash at the ATM?

Not yet, but if Germany's Saarland University has anything to say about it, we will in the near future.

Mark Simkin wants to use Google Glass to withdraw money at a cash machine in such a secure way that no spying is possible.
Oliver Dietze

At the CEBIT conference next week in Hanover, Germany, Saarland University will demonstrate some interesting uses of Google Glass and encryption technology.

In one example, several persons review an encrypted document at the same time with Google Glass, but each can see only the text passages intended for them.

“This could be interesting, for example, for large companies or agencies that are collecting information in one document, but do not want to show all parts to everybody," explained Mark Simkin, one of the developers of the Ubic encryption software, in a press release.

Another scenario using Google Glass and encryption would be to securely withdraw money from an ATM.

While a novel idea, the process to do so is not an easy one. First, the customer identifies himself to the cash machine and receives a public key, which encrypts a PIN and seals it with a digital signature. Up pops a QR code with a PIN hidden in it only visible to the identified wearer of the glasses. Even though the process occurs in public, nobody can spy on the PIN, and even if they did, it changes each transaction.